Mark Rafferty received the perfect Christmas present at Dundalk tonight when the young apprentice partnered his first winner aboard Confidence

The 17-year-old from Galway showed a cool head on the front-runner, keeping him going inside the final furlong.

The Luke Comer trained gelding stuck at his guns well to hold off the challenge of 7/2 favourite Knockgraffon Lad by a length.

It was only the third racecourse ride for Rafferty, who also partnered the same horse to finish second here two weeks ago.

"I'm apprentice to Mr Comer. I had a couple of winners pony racing although I didn't get much of a chance at that," revealed the beaming rider.